My Sport: Georgina Harland

Earliest sporting memories: The 1988 Seoul Olympics. I was captivated by the whole occasion on TV and kept my own scrapbook of press cuttings. I've still got it up in the roof somewhere.

Why modern pentathlon? It just seems to be my event. I started riding very early with my local pony club, I swam with the Canterbury club and ran cross-country for Kent at school. I have always been mad keen on all sport, and when it was suggested I try modern pentathlon I didn't hesitate.

Your sporting heroes and why: Yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur whose courage and dedication I find very inspiring. Athlete Mary Peters who, as well as being one of Britain's great athletes, radiates her passion and love for sport to all those around her. A lovely lady.

Most memorable moment: Watching Steph Cook and Kate Allenby win gold and bronze at the Sydney Olympics. Before the Games I had been devastated not to have qualified myself, but these were two of my closest friends and we had been through so much together. I had been their training partner and had lived every moment with them. It was a fabulous and life changing moment. I promised myself I would dedicate everything to being an Olympian.

Worst sporting moment: July last year when I made a mess of one of the Olympic qualifying competitions and was suddenly confronted with the possibility of missing out again. My world fell apart for a couple of weeks. To book my place in Athens I then had to win the European Championship, which I did, and beat Sian Lewis, another terrific British competitor and good friend.

What improvements would you make to modern pentathlon? At all the World and European Championships the team relay event is a great highlight and would make good TV. The Britsh women tend to do very well and it ought to be incorporated into the Olympics.

What question are you most often asked? What went wrong with the shooting Georgie?

And your answer: Sorry, I tried my best.

Seriously, what can you do about your shooting? I must stop getting uptight about it. In practice I am a perfectly respectable markswoman regularly scoring 180 or more - that would place me comfortably in the pack going into the fencing with my strong events to come. I can shoot but, as it is the first event of the five, I am all pumped up. I need to control that. It's more mental than physical and I have tried sports psychologists with varying results. It's all become a bit of a soap opera. What I need to do is compete in a string of events, fire off some good scores and bury the myth about my shooting before the big championships come around again.

How well is your sport covered by the media? Don't get me started, this is a big bone of contention. With a couple of honourable exceptions, we are treated as four-year wonders, catapulted into the spotlight every Olympics. GB women competitors have been winning world and European titles for a long time now. Surely that merits proper coverage as well? Secondly, very few media people bother to understand the sport properly. It is fascinating and changes rapidly. When I began my run at Athens way down the field, Steph rushed out of the media centre to find a vantage point on the course because she knew for certain none of the cameras would follow me – just as she was only picked up in the latter stages of her great gold medal run at Sydney.

Is the future of modern pentathlon rosy? Definitely. We have a cracking group of younger girls coming through - Jo Clarke, Heather Fell, Mari Spence and Lindsay Regan to name but four. I haven't achieved my dreams yet either - I want an Olympic gold - and I hope between us we can really achieve something. Don't give up on the GB men either, they are beginning to come good.

What would you do if you weren't a sportswoman? Panic. I can't imagine life without sport. If I couldn't compete I would be involved in sports marketing, promotion or media. I would have to stay close to the action. I am not sure I could coach though. As an athlete you always TAKE, you soak everything up and use others' expertise ruthlessly. As a coach you have to GIVE all the time. Some can make the switch, but I doubt if I could.

Which four people would you invite to your dream dinner party? No celebrities, just my four closest friends. I would tell them how much they mean to me and how I couldn't have achieved anything without their support. I would also apologise profusely for neglecting to tell them all this over the years but secretly hope they knew anyway. If Brad Pitt wanted to call in and organise coffee and do the washing up that would be cool, but I'd understand if he was otherwise engaged.